One of my customers asked me a few days ago how to transfer his personal information (Contacts, Calendar and SMS messages) from his old Android phone to his new one. The first part of this request was easy to do by following a single procedure: the user must sign-in to Google services by using the same Google Account in both devices and then to synchronize all the information stored in Google services (Contacts, Calendar, etc.) with his Android phones. The second part (to transfer SMS messages) was a little more complex because there is not yet a method to transfer (or backup) Android SMS messages without installing an external app.

After doing some research and tests, I found out that most of SMS Android backup applications create a backup archive of all SMS messages in a XML format which is not easy to be viewed on a desktop computer. So for this task, I decided to use the SMS Backup+ App (by Jan Berkel) because by using this app it is easy to transfer (backup/restore) all your SMS & MMS messages to your Google account and then you are able to view them by using a web browser or transfer them to your new Android device. Furthermore, this app has some very useful features like backup call logs, WhatsApp messages, backing-up schedules, etc.

3. Tap to select the Gmail account that you already use to synchronize with your Android phone (Google Mail, Calendar, Contacts, etc.).

4. At Permission request window, tap “Allow Access”.

5. Now, if you want to immediately backup all your SMS messages to your Google account (for the first time) tap “Backup”.*

* Otherwise, tap “Skip” in order to backup them later.

6. Wait until all your SMS messages are backed up on your Google Account.

7. After the backup operation is complete, navigate to your Google account and you will see a new label in the sidebar named SMS. Click on it and you should see all your messages from your Android device.

Additional SMS Backup+ settings.

In order to use SMS Backup+ find and tap to open the app from Apps menu list (Apps > SMS Backup+).

Backup: Use it anytime in order to perform a manual backup of your SMS messages.

Auto backup:
– If you want “SMS Backup+” to take automatically backups of your SMS messages, then tap to enable the “Auto Backup” checkbox.

Auto backup settings:– After you have enabled the Auto Backup option, then tap the “Auto backup settings” option to define backup schedule time (e.g. every 2 hours) and connection settings (e.g. only backup when connected to Wifi).

Advanced settings.

In Advanced settings you will find some useful options for Backup and Restore operations. For example, you can specify which type of messages you want to backup (e.g. only the SMS or MMS or WhatsApp, the operation logs, notifications, etc.).

How to restore / transfer Android SMS to another Android device.

After you have backed up all your SMS messages to your Google Account as described in the previous steps, then:

1. On the (new) Android phone, go to “Settings” > “Accounts and Sync”.

Warning: After connection, tap “SKIP” and DO NOT perform the “First Backup”.

5. Finally, from “SMS Backup+”’s main screen, tap “Restore”.

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Worked exactly as promised. Directions are very clear and accurate. Not only are all of my text messages transferred from my old phone, but they, and all new text messages, are visible in the SMS folder in Gmail.

Tried this app out and I thought it worked.. Turns out all my texts are out of order. My outgoing texts are grouped together. And my received texts are grouped together per contact. But also, they are out of order.. I have read online from other users that it is not the app, but a phone problem instead. I have a Samsung Galaxy S5. I need my texts in order because this is critical to my civil harassment case against my stalker. Is there anyone out there who can help????

I hope you resolved this. Are the messages in the correct order on your Gmail web page (under the header SMS on the lefthand sidebar?) If so, they ought to be still useful for law enforcement purposes. Good luck to you.

This is marvellous! Thank you for the step-by-step instructions with screen captures. I got a new phone for business and I often need to be able to refer to previous text messages with clients. I thought I was going to have to either lose them all or somehow go digging through old phone to look them up.

I've used this app successfully several times over the years/upgrades. However, I just recently got the S6 Edge and I'm trying to transfer my texts from S4 to no avail. When I go into the SMS folder in my Gmail account, I see all the texts so I know it's not a backup error. It's in the restore process. Granted, I have an obscene amount of texts but I don't see why this should be a problem, besides the time it takes to restore 76,488 texts (yikes, I know). It's only bringing in maybe ~10,000 out of the 76k and they all seem to be older (from around 2013). Any suggestions or different app recommendations? I'd be heartbroken to lose all my texts.

Erin, I was having the same problem. Finally I went into Messages / Settings and unchecked "Delete old messages", and tried the "Restore" in SMS Backup+ again. This time it gave me every text I had stored in my Gmail Account. I had 11,728 texts and all restored.

This app I great (HOWEVER) it does not restore MMS messages – only SMS. It does backup MMS messages to your Gmail account so at least you can look at them there but when it restores, it does not bring down the pictures attached to a MMS message – only text. If you look at the restore settings screen shot you have above you will see it clearly has MMS grayed out and the words "Feature Not Available Yet" by it.

Also me of you have commented that it only brings back a certain amount of text messages. This is a phone settings. What you want to do is set your new phone not to delete old messages BEFORE you start your restore. For example on my LG G4 the setting I am talking about is found by going into Messages, clicking the menu icon, then Settings, then General Settings, and finally unchecking the Deleted Old Messages check box.

When I transfer to my gmail, it is taking my old and new messages. My phone is not set to delete old messages. All the messages are in my phone still, but when I transfer, it is only allowing 100 messages per day per contact. Is this normal? I have one contact that I often have more the 100 SMS per day. It just cuts it off at 100 and backs up the next date. Is there a setting I need to change for this?

I am almost done with it and it has worked like a charm so far, I want to say thank you for the step by step directions it made things easy. Would be awesome if there were more out there this easy. Worked perfect!!!

I just downloaded the "SMS Backup+" onto my Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Everything worked according to plan. However, I noticed in my Gmail, under the categories "SMS" It only shows 290 threads. It appears that none of my SMS will no longer sync, as of 3/5/2016. I checked all the settings on my PC and my phone. I just wondering if I need to create a different folder, to specifically for my SMS. Is there a limit on how many text can be stored under the "SMS" label?

I have a question. If I have most of my SMS on my main phone and some of them on my second phone, because I had to give my first one to repair, what will happen if I try to backup new messages to my other phone? Will it delete old messages or just add new to the rest?

@Wajahat: WhatsApp backup support is no longer supported or included in the latest version. If you really need it you can manually install an older version which still includes the feature, 1.5.9-BETA5. Also see issue 564.

I cannot see the SMS label in my Google mail. I may have missed something when installing the app but cannot figure out how to go back and select ALLOW ACCESS from the Permission Request screen. I tried reinstalling the app, that did not work. I made the necessary changes to my Gmail account, still cannot see the SMS label in Gmail account. Any help would be appreciated.

I installed as suggested and it was very easy as per instructions. I selected the backup for the first time back up and it worked very well for 759 texts but there were originally 1277 items so the majority dont seem to have been backed up. I needed to back up as my phone is on the way out and will be replacing it but I need the texts as evidence for something and the backup has stopped short of the ones i really need. I dont know how to start the backup again. Any ideas please/

can i get day to day sms automatically from the help of ths app? my mother using my old phone. i want to backup all messages daily automatically..i'm using same google account in both phones.. how can set that? plz rply

@Nawfas: I think that is not a very good practice to use the same google account to more than one device.
– If you want to automatically backup messages daily, set a schedule time in SMS Backup App settings.

I have been using this app for awhile now. I recently went in to my gmail to review the backed up messages and realized since late July my backups were only incoming messages and anything before July was both. I have not changed any settings…. Could this be a AT&T update glitch? Anyone know a way around this to get the outgoing messages backed up where they go?

This is really helpful. You can use your Google account to sync contacts and some data. But for other data, you cannot simply transfer between them.
And you can also use a phone to phone transfer tool, that is the easiest way to direcly transfer data between phones. You can use a MobiKin Phone Transfer tool.

In the beginning of this article the version number was shown as 1.5.5 (step 2, number 5).
I went to the play store, found "SMS Backup +" developer Jan Berkel, but found the version to be 1.5.10 (last update Aug 20th,2015). The first comment here was nov.2014. I thought app version numbers increased with improvement?
Did 1.5.5 ever exist?

All.of my text messages disappearEd one day. Had been using sms backup+ to back up my messages. I tried the restore function for the first time. My phone died in the middle of my 46,000 text restoring. I have re ran it a couple times. Only the texts from the first time came back to my phone? Any suggestions? Also the app.asks at start if I want to use sms backup as my messaging preference. Which option should I choose?
Thanks

@AmyJ: Try to delete some sms messages stored on the Google account before using SMS backup to restore them on your phone. Choose sms backup as your messaging preference, until the restore is completed and then revert back to default messaging app on your phone.

It saved all of my conversions but 1. I have 155 messages from this one person and it's only saving 25. Most of the ones that are not saving say delivered, I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it. I have a Samsung Galaxy 6. PLEASE HELP!!

Is there a web based version of this app? I broke the screen on my S4 phone, and the texts are the only thing I can't get to. It's been backing up my favorite people, but not the stuff from coworkers that I need. I can access the phone through a cable to laptop, but can't seem to back up the texts without some sort of input on the phone screen, which I can't get. Unresponsive to touch.

hello sir i have a one problem actually by mistake i restore my phone and i loss my all sms and contacts and the problem is i can t create any backup to safe them what i do iam so worried i need my all previous contacts and sms plz give me perfect solution is that possible ????

@zohaib: If you have enabled the synchronization of contacts with your Google Account then should find your contacts at your Google contacts. Unfortunately if you haven't backup the SMS prior the phone restore, there is no other way to find them.

I have used SMSBackup+ for about 2 years now, and it has worked flawlessley. However, recently it is only backing up the sender's side of the conversation–none of my side of the conversation are saved.

I recently bought a new phone, and my message came over, but minus my side of the conversation.

I have isolated this to the app. I deleted all the backup in gmail, then tried to backup again. It did the same thing.

I then went back and deleted all unnecessary text messages and tried again-again the result was just backing up one side of the conversation.

The best help i've ever got on a website
Guys u did a great job and i'm thankful for what u gave me
i was looking a solution for this and i came across this article, in 10 minutes after reading it i was all set
can't describe how i'm feeling but i can tell you i appreciate this and respect you so much it's the least i can do